'Religion entered into me': A talk with Jane Goodall, 2021 Templeton Prize winner

If you can't find a more relevant forum, use this one!
Post Reply
User avatar
Welles
Family
Posts: 1609
Joined: Mon Apr 01, 2013 5:55 pm
Please type in these numbers: 46373: 1111
Location: Santa Cruz, CA USA
Contact:

'Religion entered into me': A talk with Jane Goodall, 2021 Templeton Prize winner

Post by Welles »

Sixty years after she stepped into the jungle to observe chimpanzees in their natural habitat, Jane Goodall, the world-renowned primatologist and conservationist, has won the 2021 Templeton Prize.

Goodall, 87, is only the fourth woman to win the award, established by the late investor and philanthropist Sir John Templeton to honor those who use science to explore humankind’s place and purpose within the universe. She follows Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, who won the $1.5 million prize last year for leading the Human Genome Project to its completion.

Besides her scientific achievements studying chimpanzees, Goodall has become a champion of conservation and an advocate for the ethical treatment of animals. Through two nonprofits she has founded, she travels the world empowering young people to start projects to improve the lives of humans, animals and the environment.

“Her discoveries have profoundly altered the world’s view of animal intelligence and enriched our understanding of humanity in a way that is both humbling and exalting,” said Heather Templeton Dill, president of the John Templeton Foundation and the granddaughter of its founder. “Ultimately, her work exemplifies the kind of humility, spiritual curiosity, and discovery that my grandfather, John Templeton, wrote and spoke about during his life.”

As a girl, Goodall, who grew up in England, fell in love with the natural world and with animals in particular. At 26, and without a college degree yet, she entered the Gombe National Forest in Tanzania and began training an empathic eye on the life and ecosystem of the chimpanzee, humans' closest living relative.

She was the first to observe chimpanzees could use tools, which were previously believed to be exclusive to humans. She also showed they have individual personalities and are capable of creating long-term bonds.

She later returned to England and earned a doctorate from Cambridge.

Her conviction that humans are part of nature, not separate from it, led her to develop her own unique cosmology. She has said she believes in a higher power, what she has called a divine intelligence.

Religion News Service talked to Goodall on Zoom ahead of the Templeton announcement. Goodall sat in the attic of her childhood home surrounded by a bookcase featuring a framed photo of David Greybeard, the first chimpanzee who trusted her and allowed her to come close enough to observe him, as well a photo of her mother, Margaret, who encouraged and assisted her on her travels to Africa.

The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
'Religion entered into me': A talk with Jane Goodall, 2021 Templeton Prize winner — by Yonat Shimron

https://www.ncronline.org/news/earthbea ... ize-winner


Image
User avatar
Sandy
Staff
Posts: 23824
Joined: Sun Jan 30, 2005 8:51 pm
Please type in these numbers: 46373: 1111
Location: Illawarra District, New South Wales, Australia
Contact:

Re: 'Religion entered into me': A talk with Jane Goodall, 2021 Templeton Prize winner

Post by Sandy »

What an absolutely wonderful article. I just love Jane Goodall and her words resonate with me.
Thank you, Welles, for sharing this. Eighty-seven though, how did she come to be 87? It seems just like yesterday I first saw her on a special nature documentary as a young woman. :shock: Of course, I am no spring chicken myself. :lol:

Well done Jane!

xxSandy
“We measure and evaluate your Spiritual Progress on the Wall of Eternity." – Guardian of Destiny, Alverana.
Post Reply